fandomtownies | The Beach, Monday afternoon

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The Beach, Monday afternoon

After classes were over (or roughly, it wasn't like he kept track like some kind of creeper), he put on his favorite Hawaiian shirt from the Shenanigans--the Hot Dog Bigfoots--and headed down to the beach.

In a little while, there were four fires roaring merrily: three on different grills with a variety of meats, one sequestered just for pork products, and one for vegetarian options. Steve'd even sourced some fresh ahi again and was feeling particularly pleased with himself about that.

The fourth fire was a cute little bonfire with neatly stacked rejected Shenanigan shirts placed a safe distance from it, along with buckets of water and sand for fire safety (and because McGarrett had 100 percent been a Boy Scout).

There were coolers of drinks including one of beer with a sign--"If you are from the HS and take a beer at a cop party, you're dumber than we thought and are v sad for you"--as the only disincentive.

Come on down, Fandom! Say goodbye to the summer. Eat food, drink beer, get rid of polyblend if that's your thing...

[OOC: Open to everyone!]

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"That's good," Steven said. "I saw him Monday. With the baggage. He's very kind, isn't he? Understanding."

Not that this was news to Stark, Steven was sure, but he wanted to pass the compliment on all the same. Especially given the topics of conversation that had come up.

"He came to check on me, on Monday," Stark agreed. "The baggage can be hard. For everyone. And he's good about not asking if he doesn't think he ought to. I don't mind but it's...it's kind of him not to."

"Were you alright with that?"

"Absolutely," Steven said, without hesitation. "No, he was very kind. We - er - sort of realized we had some things in common. Probably loads of people did on Monday, I'd imagine. And yeah, he didn't press or anything. Just right. Hopefully I was the same for him. Don't know when I'm hurting people, some days."

"He...nobody saw things of yours you weren't planning to share, did they?" Stark asked.

"None of mine is secret. I don't always want to talk about all of it but I don't mind if someone asks, usually. And I know I have a lot to ask about. Especially on those days."

"I knew mine," Steven said. "Found it all out in the afterlife. No surprises there. No, it came up when Travis and I were chatting. Tried doing the polite thing, you know, not reading? But - " Steven made a gesture to indicate the backpack Travis had carried. He figured Stark would know all about it. " - came up. You know."

"I knew about that," Stark said, with a nod. "His husband. And he knew...a lot of mine, already."

"That's good," Steven said. He was glad Stark had someone he could share that with. Glad for Travis as well, of course, but Steven had known Stark longer. "It's nice when you can be honest with them, isn't it? Llewellyn's been amazing about that. Even the harder bits."

"I try to be honest." Except when it came to things like insisting he was fine when he wasn't. That didn't count, right?

"He did see some of the bags last year. The last time this happened. And he knows some things without that."

Absolutely did not count. Though Steven had promised not to do that with Llewellyn, which tended to make one aware of how often the instinct came up. Not that Steven ever tried to hide his emotions from himself or others, of course.

"Are they the same bags every year?" Steven asked. Granted this assumed him and Marc being around in a year, but it seemed worth asking. "For each person, I mean. Because Marc's - I'd rather he not see those."

"Things change. Mine repeated, most of them. Some were new." Like that 'Repressed Feelings' one during Monday's class. Weird. "Some changed color or size. I didn't read all of mine."

There were just so many.

"Suppose it makes sense," Steven said. "Live your life, things are bound to be removed or get added."

Steven very much hoped nothing got added to Marc's, if that was the case.

"Imagine we're all at least a little different, year to year," Steven said. He thought back on his past few months. "Or a great deal different. Would've had different bags if this'd been in January. I would, I mean."

Steven hadn't even thought he was going crazy back in January. Though bags suddenly showing up would've helped that process along considerably.

"Last summer would have been different." Not quite so many things. Some bags would have been smaller. January would have been different as well.

"Hopefully we won't have to see them again." Stark knew better than to believe but sometimes it was good to have a little hope.

"Is that the sort of thing where if we say that enough the island comes up with something worse?" Steven asked. Which wasn't him dismissing how bad the bags were for some people, just him not wanting to know what could be worse.

"Sometimes I think it does listen," Stark said. "I've no proof either way. Some things come back and some don't. I haven't figured out why. Or what. The baggage has happened before. I don't think the fire has. I don't remember the cats. The days we have to tell the truth keep happening. But this summer was quiet, mostly. Which is odd. Usually something happens in the summer."

And the winter, and the spring.

"The cats weren't bad," Steven said, even if he hadn't personally interacted with them in a way that might have been visible in some sort of text based format, just to pick a random example. "But - oh! So was this week it? The thing that happens between semesters? Marc and I were warned about that. Only I thought it'd be a single thing. Sort of like the reunion but longer."

Not that Steven had wanted the reunion to go on longer. Very much the opposite, in fact.

"I think we earned a reprieve somehow," Stark said. Which was not at all ominous. "There's usually much more to it. Not just unrelated oddness for a few days. Last summer I was in a hole for weeks. With half the island it seemed like. And the first summer I was back there were the Nightmares."

Steven took all that in. "Right, have to start somewhere. Half the island was in a hole? For weeks?"

Edited 2022-09-06 03:01 (UTC)

"There were raccoons. Different raccoons than the ones still here. They were trapping us. Travis and the fire station fell in first. A lot of the rest of us followed later. And a lot of buildings. I don't recommend it."

"Buildings as well?" Steven asked. "Like a sort of sinkhole? How did it get fixed?"

"Little holes that got bigger and then closed after we fell in. There was...it was very strange. I was down there and I'm not sure what happened up here but someone made them open it again so we could get out. Some of the ships were down there. That's how I got out, once we could."

"Must've been terrifying," Steven said. The closest experience he had was briefly being stuck in a sarcophagus in the afterlife and for as short a period as that was he hadn't liked it at all. "Spaceships or the seafaring kind?"

"I don't like being trapped," Stark said. "I don't do well being trapped." For a number of reasons.

"Too many bad memories. And they were spaceships."

"It sounds horrible," Steven agreed. "I'm glad everyone got out - well maybe I'm assuming. Everyone did get out safely? I hope?"

"It was, mostly. I've spent too much time unable to make decisions for myself about whether or not to be somewhere," Stark said. "And there was no sunlight. No way out. Just...rock. It would have been worse alone. Much worse. But we did all get out."

"That sounds absolutely horrible," Steven said. "I'm sorry you went through it."

At all, and especially considering Stark's past.

"The nightmares came after?"

The Beach, Monday afternoon

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